Click to viewFans and followers of the Getting Things Done personal productivity system have hacked all sorts of ways to GTD in different applications, from Microsoft Outlook to plain text to Gmail. But one of Google Labs' less-hyped applications, Notebook, is very well-suited to instant capture and easy processing of your GTD lists.

Today I've got the scoop on how to manage your inbox, projects, next actions and someday/maybe lists with Google Notebook.

First things first: if you haven't read Getting Things Done, you're missing out. The fast read is well worth the 9 bucks, and even if it doesn't turn you into a full-on disciple of The David, it will at least install the seeds of some new good habits into your cluttered, distracted mind. For the reader's digest version, check out the Getting Things Done Wikipedia page.

Second: why Google Notebook? While there are dozens of online list makers, Google Notebook is flexible enough (ie, not just a list) for you to work and tweak your GTD system to your liking. It can capture information anywhere on the web with a mature browser extension and it comes with Google's signature killer search capabilities. Plus, using Notebook's collaboration features, you could allow your spouse or co-worker to drop things into your Inbox for you to process later. Sure, desktop apps like Thinking Rock and iGTD are cool, but for people who live in a web browser, Notebook automatically includes links in notes (including individual Gmail messages) and its contents are available from any computer where you're logged into your Google Account.

Set up your GTD Notebooks

Ready to give this a try? Log into your Google Account and head over to Notebook. To get started you want to create 5 new notebooks, representing the classic GTD silos: Inbox, Next Actions, Projects, Someday/Maybe and Reference. I like to prepend "GTD" to the beginning of each notebook title so that I can sort them alphabetically and separate them from other notebooks I might have set up.

A quick refresher of the purpose of these buckets for those who've fallen off the GTD wagon:

Inbox. Here's where unprocessed thoughts - "open loops" as David Allen calls them - get dropped off for dealing with later. Pop-up thoughts, half-baked notions and "Oh! I should..." go here.

Next Actions. This is your immediate, actionable to-do list, a few specific items you've decided to carry out in the next few days.

Someday/Maybe. Here's where the things you might like to do someday - but you're not committed to right now - get shuttled.

Projects. Big jobs that are made up of a collection of subtasks are not next actions, they're projects. For example, the "Clean out the office" job is made up of several next actions (ie, "Take out the garbage," "Rearrange the book shelves," "Purge filing cabinet.")

Reference. Research into a topic that you'll need to carry out a next action or refer back to for a particular project goes here. For example, this is where you'd store links to the hotel, flight information and maps of a travel destination.

Once you've got the 5 GTD areas set up, it's time to move your info in. To add to a notebook (say, "Next Actions"), click on it and hit the "New Note" button. From there you can type your item (like "Deposit checks") or add a section header. Headers are useful for separating information into different categories in a notebook. For example, in my Next Actions notebook, I separate items under Context headers (like @Phone, @Desk, @Shopping Center.)

In my Projects notebook, each header represents a single project, and so on.

Quick Capture with the GNotebook Firefox extension

Now that you've got a simple GTD framework set up with Notebook, you want to quickly capture items you come across on the web, or that arrive in your email inbox for processing later. Here's where the amazing Google Notebook browser extension (available for both Firefox and IE6) comes in extremely handy. Download and install it in your browser to give it a try.

With the extension installed, if you come across something on a web page you want to add to your system, you can highlight text on the page, and click the Notebook icon in your browser chrome. Using the "Clip" button, the extension will instantaneously enter the selected text with a link back to the source.

Gmail users will love this for incoming requests via email; Notebook will add a link back to the individual message you've quoted and clipped.

Inbox processing and Weekly Review

Once you're in the habit of capturing your information in your GTD notebooks, it's a matter of processing your stuff. Each day, review unprocessed items in your inbox and like a good GTD'er, decide whether to Do, Delegate or Defer it.

To move an item from your Inbox notebook into its right place in the system, from the drop down menu on the far right side of it, choose "Move." From there you'll be able to choose another notebook and section, as pictured.

Let others drop things into your inbox

In a physical office space, anyone can come by and drop a piece of paper into your inbox. Using Google Notebook to GTD, you can share your Inbox notebook with your spouse, boss, partner or co-worker virtually. To do so, click the "Sharing Options" link on the far right top side of the notebook.

Word of advice: just share your Inbox, not your Projects or Next Actions list. In theory the Inbox is the single entry point into your GTD system, so it's the only one others should access.

While Google Notebook is great at simply being a web clipping and annotation tool, it's flexible enough to help you organize your tasks and projects, too. Got any questions or thoughts about GTD'ing with Notebook? Give us a holler in the comments. —Gina Trapani

Gina Trapani, the editor of Lifehacker, digs Google Notebook. Her weekly feature, Geek to Live, appears every Wednesday on Lifehacker. Subscribe to the Geek to Live feed to get new installments in your newsreader.